Timeline of key paediatric emergency department (ED) interventions.
Date | Intervention | Rationale |
23 Jan 2020 | *Mandatory admission to inpatient isolation wards for all suspect cases presenting to the ED (case definitions in online supplementary appendix 1) | Containment and isolation purposes as Singapore confirmed first imported case of COVID-19 |
31 Jan 2020 | Enhanced personal protective equipment (PPE): N95 face mask for front-line ED staff at triage and in the resuscitation area | Increasing numbers of imported COVID-19 cases in Singapore |
5 Feb 2020 |
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9–10 Feb 2020 |
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14 Feb 2020 | *COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab for patients with community-acquired pneumonia discharged from ED | Enhanced surveillance for COVID-192 |
28 Feb 2020 | COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab for patients with travel history outside Singapore within last 14 days and fever/acute respiratory illness | Increasing local transmission in several countries |
5 March 2020 | *COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab for asymptomatic paediatric close contacts of confirmed cases (proactively identified; brought to ED for testing) | Asymptomatic paediatric patients may have high COVID-19 viral load9 |
*Interventions mandated at national level. All other interventions were decided at hospital level.